Healing
by MaxRideNut
Summary: Two Flock members and Total are dead. Two years later Angel meets a scarred boy with power over fire. Now they must work together to reunite the Flock and send the Bender home.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This chapter is actually a recountance of a dream I had. Chapter 2 just sounded cool, and I continued for the heck of it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do after ch3 or if I'm just going to discontinue it. I need suggestions on how to continue the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the show 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' or any of its characters, and I don't own the series Maximum Ride or any of its characters.**

The tall, black-haired teenager walked into the mini-mart store at the gas station. A stout lady stood behind the counter and glared at him. A young girl about sixteen was reading a magazine in the corner.

The boy walked up to the counter lady. "Do you have any soda?" he asked.

"Carol, take him to the drink isle!" the lady snapped, then ignored both. Sighing, the girl put down her magazine and signaled him to follow her.

When they got to the very rear of the store, where the drink isle was, she didn't walk away, as he had expected. She stared at him while he chose a microwavable cup of tea, and kept glancing at his face as they walked back. Halfway there, the boy asked, "What do you find so interesting about me?"

Carol looked at her feet. "Sorry. You just remind me of someone I used to know." A tear went down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away.

"Who? I'm not from around here; how could you know anyone who looked like me?"

"I'm not from around here either. But your scar looks like an old burn. My brother…he was a pyromaniac. He burned himself a lot. The last time…the last time, he couldn't get away before the bomb detonated. The way you walk, your attitude, they remind me of him." Now the tears fell freely.

"I'm sorry," the boy said gently. "I didn't mean to bring back bad memories. I know what it's like, to remember things you would rather forget. But you need to remember; it's what keeps him alive. To forget the bad memories, you must forget the person in them. Then you would forget the good times you had with him. Remember him as he was in life, and keep him alive in your heart." He paid for his tea (they had reached the front) and went outside to his motorcycle. But he just leaned against the tire and drank, he didn't leave.

"Carol, go tell that guy to go away. He's blocking the gas pump!" The lady continued counting her money. Carol took the opportunity and went outside.

"Well, that didn't take long. I figured she'd wait at least another two minutes. She's even crabbier than my sister. At least she isn't trying to kill me." Said guy spoke conversationally.

"How did you heat your tea?" Carol pointed to his steaming cup.

"Dang. I promised myself I wouldn't repeat Uncle Iroh's mistake, and then I do it anyway. At least now it's not in a refugee camp…" She overheard him mumbling.

"You wouldn't repeat what mistake? What are you talking about?"

"Can you keep a secret? As in, a secret that could land me in a science lab?"

"Yep. I've been keeping secrets like that for my whole life." Carol answered without hesitation.

"Okay, then. My family can control fire. The mistake my uncle made was, we had disguised ourselves as war refugees and the tea they served us was extremely cold. My uncle was probably the world's biggest expert on tea, and its biggest fan. He couldn't stand to drink cold tea, so he heated it. He was seen by a real refugee, who told the authorities. Looks like I've done the same thing. But I think I can trust you."

"You can, but I should probably warn you, I have the power to read and control minds. So don't freak out if someone dangerous randomly starts to repeatedly run into a tree or something." Okay, and he thought_ his_ secret would get him in trouble?! "By the way, what's your name?"

"My name is Zuko."

"Interesting name. Could you do me a favor?"

"Depends on the favor." Zuko was getting suspicious.

"Give me a ride on your motorcycle. My mom is abusive, and I've been planning to run away for a while. This is my chance. Please?" Then this teenage girl pulled off the perfect puppy eyes. What kid over 7 can pull the puppy eyes?! Apparently this one. Zuko sighed.

"Fine. How long do we have before she'd look out here?"

"3…2…1…"

"Carol! I told you to get rid of him! Why is he still here?"

"Mom, I'm trying! His motorcycle won't start! I'm telling him how to hotwire it!" Carol yelled back. Grumbling, the fat lady went back inside.

"How would you know how to hotwire a motorcycle?" Zuko asked.

"When you live on the run for four-and-a-half years, you learn things. My friend Nudge taught me." She got on the bike.

"Okay…"

"Just get on!"

"Okay! But I'm driving!" He sat in front of her.

"For a little while. I need to take control when we get to a certain point. Go North." The girl pointed.

"Fine."

A few minutes later, Carol told Zuko to let her drive and to wrap his arms around hers. Zuko was confused, but he obeyed.

"Close your eyes!" She shouted.

"Why?!"

"JUST DO IT!" Zuko did it.

A couple seconds later, he felt the motorcycle fall out from under him, but some strong arms were holding him. He opened his eyes and screamed. He was thousands of feet in the air, but he wasn't falling.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow, since when did 19-year-olds scream like little girls? Of course, the worst thing that ever happened to you probably did not take place two thousand feet in the air, so I guess this is a bit new to you. At least there aren't any Flyboys around." A voice he recognized came from above him, so he tried to look up.

"Stop squirming! I may have super human strength, but you are worse than Total when he sees a McDonalds below us!"

"What the—?!" Zuko gasped.

"Hi," Carol said as she finally looked down at him, "I'm Angel."

‌

**Author's Note: Yes, I know it's short. But the next chapter should be up in a matter of minutes!**


	3. Chapter 3

"CAROL?!"

"Actually, that's not my real name…Okay, well yeah it is, but it's not my true name." The girl who he had been referring to flapped her feathered white wings again as she spoke.

"Um…?" Zuko was more confused now then ever.

"I was given different names by different people. My birth mom named me Carol, and then she sold me to some evil scientists who gave me wings and other super powers. They named me E248AH11A, or Avian-Human Subject Eleven. At age two, a scientist who turned out to be a good guy rescued me and five other experiment children, including my brother. We all got nicknames, which I figured out to be our true names. True names are names that make the most sense and that the person with that name prefers, whether or not that was their given name. I was named Angel; my brother was Gazzy, short for the Gasman. The flock leader was an older girl named Maximum Ride. Second in command was Fang, a guy that Max referred to as 'Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent'. There was also Nudge, the flock motormouth, and Iggy, the blind bomb expert. Then Jeb, the good whitecoat, disappeared and we lived on the run for over four and a half years. Max got a Voice in her head that wasn't hers. It kept telling her that it was her destiny to save the world. Eventually, she came pretty close. Then she saved the world completely by sacrificing herself to save us. After that, the Flock broke up, and we searched for our birth parents. Mine turned out to be abusive, Iggy's wanted to make money by displaying him as the 'Mutant Bird-Kid', Fang's parents didn't know he even existed, and Nudge never found hers. Total, my talking dog, died with my brother, trying to rescue him." Carol—um, Angel—was openly crying by that point. Zuko realized now that what he had experienced in his whole life was nothing compared to this girl's tortured fifteen years.

"Could you please land? I want to show you something." He spoke softly, but Angel apparently heard, because they began to lose altitude.

When they touched down, Zuko turned from Angel and walked a few feet away. He was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his uncannily even voice carried a tone of sorrow.

"I am not from here; I am not even from this time. I don't look it, but I'm several thousand years old. In my time, there were four Nations in the world. Every Nation was based off one element: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Some select people had control over the element of their Nation, they were the Benders. I was a Firebender. A long time ago, before my great grandfather was born, the four Nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, the lone Master Bender of all four Elements could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. No one knew if he had ever been reborn into the Air Nomads. A hundred years passed and the Fire Nation was nearing victory in the war. The current Fire Lord, Ozai, was my father, and he cared nothing for anything besides conquering the other Nations, and he cared even less for those he hurt in the process. When I was finally old enough, I attended a meeting for strategic planning, but I was not allowed to comment. Someone suggested a Banzai charge, where a portion of the Fire citizens would distract the enemy's defenses while the army would go to the heart of the Nation (I can't seem to remember which Nation it was) and attack where it hurt the most. Everyone knew that the distraction would be a suicide mission and would kill hundreds of innocent people. And yet my father approved. I couldn't contain myself, and I said that no decent human being would kill defenseless citizens who had only ever been loyal. The General who suggested it challenged me to an Agni Kaei, a death-duel. I accepted, but when I entered the ring, I was met by the one person I would never even look in the eye, much less battle. I had defied a General, but I had done it in the Fire Lord's chamber. I had to duel my own father. I was still a Firebender-in-training, and my father was the most powerful Firebender in the world. I pleaded for my life; I didn't even attempt to strike at him. He declared that by surrendering, I had brought dishonor to myself and to the royal family. I was not worthy to have any honor at all. He burned my face as a symbol of my exile, and told me that the only way to reclaim my honor was to capture the Avatar. We both knew that I would not find him—he, my grandfather, and my great grandfather had all searched and failed. But I tried anyway. It became my obsession. My uncle Iroh accompanied me for many years in my search, training me along the way. Eventually, I did find him, but I could never defeat him. Several times, after he defeated me, I would do something stupid. I always got myself into more trouble. But when he found me unconscious, he never killed me, for all the times I had tried to kill him. He saved my life more than once, and yet I still chased him. At one point, I almost became good when Katara tried to heal my scar. But before she could finish, my power-hungry sister, Azula, came and attacked. She convinced me that if I helped her defeat the Avatar, I could regain my honor. Last time I saw him, he was dead and being taken somewhere by his Waterbending Master. I decided to leave when I realized that the honor I was seeking would be granted by an evil man, and I did not want ill-earned honor. What I thought was the next day, I woke up to find myself in a cold metal box. I panicked; I Firebended at the walls of my prison and nearly choked in the heat. But, ironically, the heat was what saved me. I had been found by some archeologists in a glacier and put in a freezer. When the machine indicated that the temperature inside had dramatically increased, they checked inside the chamber to see how much it had damaged the frozen body—to find a very angry man throwing fire at them. Once I was out, I threw a single fire-punch near each as a warning, and then regarded them with suspicious curiosity. They just cowered in front of me; one called me a ghost while the other called me a god. I demanded to know who had captured me and why. They told me that I had been dead; frozen in the ice for what seemed like several thousand years. They had wanted to take me to a lab to learn more about me, but I had somehow come back to life. One became bolder and asked who I was, that I called fire my servant. This confused me. How could they not know? Somehow, I had ended in up in that glacier and slept for thousands of years without waking or dieing. I hadn't even aged. In those millennia, the world had forgotten about the Four Nations and had forgotten about Bending. I left and searched the planet for anyone who remembered. I learned how to fit in with the people of this time, learned what would happen to me if anyone found out I was not from this time. Learned that even enemies of the Fire Nation would be welcome friends in this crowded, confusing place. I have yearned to tell someone my story for over two years now, but I never found anyone I was sure I could completely trust. Until now. C—Angel, you are the only person I have trusted since I woke up, and the first person to trust me since Azula convinced me to betray the Avatar and Uncle Iroh. Thank you."

Angel had many questions she wanted to ask, but decided they could wait. Instead, she put her hand on his shoulder in sympathy. He looked at her and was surprised to see that she had no remorse for him. In fact, he thought he saw something resembling awed recognition in her expression. She looked at her feet.

"Come with me. I know someone who knows who you are, and might be able to send you home. Not all people of this world have forgotten the Benders, but the way they tell others makes it seem like they made it up. Do you know where your original clothes are? We might need them." Angel said all this gently, so as not to startle him more than necessary.

"W-what? What are you talking about?" Zuko managed to choke out.

"Television. There is a show that records the lives of you, Katara, Sokka, and the Avatar, Aang. Everyone thinks that it is just a fun cartoon series. Perhaps it is, and you somehow were made real. But perhaps it isn't and the people who make the show are trying to tell the world. I don't know, but I plan to find out."


End file.
